TY - JOUR
T1 - Dyadic effects of attachment on mental health: Couples in a postdisaster context
AU - Gallagher, H
AU - Lusher, Dean
AU - Gibbs, Lisa
AU - Pattison, Philippa
AU - Forbes, David
AU - Block, Karen
AU - Harms, Louise
AU - MacDougall, Colin
AU - Kellett, Connie
AU - Ireton, Greg
AU - Bryant, Richard
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Research on mental health following disasters has led to the identification of many individual protective and risk factors for postdisaster mental health. However, there is little understanding of the exact influence that disasters have on the functioning of intimate relationships. Especially relevant are attachment styles, which are likely to play an important role in the provision and perception of social support between partners, and subsequent mental health outcomes. Heterosexual couples (N = 127) affected by the 2009 Victorian "Black Saturday" Bushfires in southeastern Australia were surveyed for disaster experiences, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, and attachment style between May 2012 and January 2013, approximately 3 years after the disaster. Using actor-partner interdependence models (APIM), we examined both intrapersonal and interpersonal associations of attachment anxiety and avoidance with depression and PTSD, in combination with shared disaster exposure. Male partners' attachment avoidance was associated with depression and PTSD in both partners. By contrast, a female partner's attachment avoidance was associated with greater depression and PTSD in herself, but fewer PTSD symptoms in a male partner. Amid the chronic stressors of a postdisaster setting, the attachment avoidance of the male partner may play a particularly negative role, with his tendency toward isolation and denial.
AB - Research on mental health following disasters has led to the identification of many individual protective and risk factors for postdisaster mental health. However, there is little understanding of the exact influence that disasters have on the functioning of intimate relationships. Especially relevant are attachment styles, which are likely to play an important role in the provision and perception of social support between partners, and subsequent mental health outcomes. Heterosexual couples (N = 127) affected by the 2009 Victorian "Black Saturday" Bushfires in southeastern Australia were surveyed for disaster experiences, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, and attachment style between May 2012 and January 2013, approximately 3 years after the disaster. Using actor-partner interdependence models (APIM), we examined both intrapersonal and interpersonal associations of attachment anxiety and avoidance with depression and PTSD, in combination with shared disaster exposure. Male partners' attachment avoidance was associated with depression and PTSD in both partners. By contrast, a female partner's attachment avoidance was associated with greater depression and PTSD in herself, but fewer PTSD symptoms in a male partner. Amid the chronic stressors of a postdisaster setting, the attachment avoidance of the male partner may play a particularly negative role, with his tendency toward isolation and denial.
KW - Attachment
KW - Couples
KW - Depression
KW - Disasters
KW - Posttraumatic stress disorder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85000963006&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/fam0000256
DO - 10.1037/fam0000256
M3 - Article
VL - 31
SP - 192
EP - 202
JO - JOURNAL OF FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY
JF - JOURNAL OF FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY
SN - 0893-3200
IS - 2
ER -